The Stony Brook Medicine Healthy Libraries Program (HeLP) is a partnership between the Public Libraries of Suffolk County, a unique group of healthcare professionals, and undergraduate and graduate student interns from the fields of social work, public health, nursing, physician assistant, nutrition, medicine, and library science, working together to provide access to both in-person and virtual healthcare related resources for public library patrons throughout Suffolk County. HeLP collaborates with Stony Brook Medicine's Heart Institute and Stony Brook Medicine's Cancer Center, and is in part supported by the American Heart Association of Long Island.
The goal of the program is to:
- Provide evidence-based health information, screening, and case management to a diverse community of patrons in the public library setting in Suffolk County.
- Utilize interprofessional referral systems for public library patrons, to promote access to appropriate local health and social services programs, addressing corresponding health and social support needs.
- For students to experience an interprofessional team and demonstrate the core competencies based on the guidelines of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC).
- To support health-related programs, trainings, and resources for public librarians and their patrons.
